Racism in Fashion?

Ok, this doesn't apply to Sephora because they do a good job of showcasing beauty of different races and ethnicities, but my beef lies with the fashion designers, in particular: Dolce and Gabanna, Prada, Dior, etc. It angers me that since they are popular high-end designers, people still support them....ok now I'm starting to babble, I'll get to the point...

My point is that they see white people as high end, elite, and everyone wants to look like them. I have never seen Prada use a black model ever.

Now there's another question: what about Asian, Hispanic, Indian...?

Yes, they are the minority, however, they get better job openings because of their skin color, which is sad. In 2013, you'd think that there's change, but there's non, nada. Yes, blacks (dark-skinned people) can get sucessful, but that's about it.

Why post this on Sephora?

Sephora does a fantastic job of seeing people as beautiful, everybody is beautiful in their own way. Several companies Sephora carries such as Bobbi Brown, Nars, Lancome, etc, they do a wonderful job and they're sucessful.

I think the biggest problem is that since Dior Prada Coco Chanel, etc are popular brands at the moment, they have extrodinary influence on the way people outlook beauty and since 93 percent of the models they used are white, it's enough to assume that they think whites are super while there are other diversities.

Re: Racism in Fashion?

The pale to tanning phenomenon is very US. And "Caucasions are forever tanning and even getting surgeries to make their lips like an african american, for example." Is so naively offensive I'm not even sure how to start the unraveling of why.

I can try to pull up studies if I can get into my journal article account, but its a topic of study of why beauty standards and fashion love tanning but turn away from naturally dark skin.

So to start with, the two are obviously not the same. And your implication that tanning=preferring AA beauty is wrong.

Re: Racism in Fashion?

I think you need to look into "white privilege" - I'm not sure you realize how offensive it is to people of color to claim white people are oppressed or victims of racism. Saying we are all equal doesn't change the hundreds of years of oppression and institutionalized inequality that disadvantages people of color and gives white people the upper hand in nearly every aspect of life.

Re: Racism in Fashion?

If we're looking for a change, then why are we stuck in the past? "hundreds of years of oppression and institutionalized inequality" If we keep looking at the past how are we ever going to move forward?

So you agree that CEO's of top companies should be chosen by race & gender, not by qualification? That our president's race is more important than what he believes in?

Re: Racism in Fashion?

We're not stuck looking at the past, we're looking at right now, dealing with reality.

Thats based on the assumption that we're not currently still experiencing years of oppression and institutionalized inequality. So, when do you think that we came out of that? When was it that warrants perceiving inequality as in the past and possible to ignore?

Also, CEOs should be based on qualifications. You seem to believe that equal opportunity is unfairly putting unqualified minorities in charge, so can you explain to me why 21% of Fortune 500 CEOs are POC? That's including ALL non-white races. And 3.6% are women (2012).To believe that equal opportunity is unfairly positive to unqualified minorities is to say the small percentage of minorities in high position are unfairly there. Its implying there's very few qualified minorities and that's offensive.

The presidents race is not more important that his beliefs, but his experiences related to his race do have an affect on his beliefs. It would make sense that other minorities appreciated that he had experiences similar to what they experienced. Anyone who voted for or against him purely on his race is ignorant. But its a white privilege to see his race as simply a skin color we must be blind to. Ethnicity is a huge part of the POC experience, for good and bad, its impossible for him and voters to ignore how his experiences as a biracial black man affected him. And they shouldn't ignore it.

Any kind of belief that he was voted in simply because of his skin color is an offensive assumption. A huge part of his voters were minorities. That belief implies that the minorities didn't do any research into the candidates or critically think about what they want as US citizens. Put simply, he wasn't elected because he was black, that was just a bonus.

Re: Racism in Fashion?

I suscribe to FashionTV on YouTube and when I watch the runway shows it always boggles my mind that there are so few women of color on the runways. I think Fashion for all its "creativity and artistic nature" is painfully behind the rest of the world in terms of catering to all people. The only time I ever see a diverse runway is if Tracy Reese is doing a show.

I also think that for a black model to be successful she has to be REALLY outstanding while her white counterparts might as well be just another face in the crowd. I know that sounds harsh but it's just so obvious to me that the bar for non-white models is set so much higher.

In my opinion, Chanel is the worst when it comes to lacking diversity.

Estee Lauder JUST started using ethnic models in their campaigns as well as including darker skin tones in their makeup so I'm not about to sing their praises yet. D&G don't offend that much as Naomi Campbell has been one of their staples since the 80s.

This is why in terms of makeup I support MAC, NARS, Makeup Forever and Smashbox first because they were including other ethnic groups before it was PC to do so.

it's also the reason why I support Benetton.

The sad thing is, people speak about this all the time but nothing is ever done because realistically the people buying high-end clothing are a small part of the population that are mostly white and they don't HAVE to listen to us to be successful and yet they are the ones setting the trends for beauty etc...

I think this accounts for why we have seen changes in the makeup industry rather than fashion because makeup is more accessible.

Re: Racism in Fashion?

In my opinion, I only support Nars, Versace, Urban Decay, Lancome, Smashbox, Makeup Forever etc, and of course MAC.I realized that many people love MAC because there's a ton of diversity n the products- they're not afraid to use a real dark skin model or an Indian model and they've always done that. As for "Chanel" she only caters to white people and it's pretty obvious. I guess as far as those elite brands go, I would not buy their clothing, or makeup, and even magazines such as ELLE and VOUGE are racist as crap. That's why I don't purchase them either.

Re: Racism in Fashion?

Dolce & Gabbana are a P&G brand, which I avoid like the plague. I agree with @beautytester, it's more of the European brands. I tried searching for a Dior add with a woman of color, and could not find any, same with Chanel.

Re: Racism in Fashion?

Racism is prominent in fashion, but it's getting better. Also, the brands you named are mostly European brands (that later expanded internationally) no? Models are suppose to bring the designer's vision to life, so if they design mostly for European women....well then. If you look at Asian designers (China, Japanese, Korean) I bet you would find plenty of Asians but not a lot of other ethnicity. If you look at South American designers, probably a lot of hispanics, no? Altho most of the international/power brands are of European/American origins, so it is tougher for models of different ethnicity.

With that said, I find it more distasteful when brands promise one thing publicly (more diversity, or no underaged model, or unpaid workers) then turn around and immediately break those promises with a no big deal attitude.